copying data from old datastore on to new ESXi

 This is how I copied data from an ESXi datastore on an old m2 ssd to a new ESXi machine:

1. Put the SSD into a USB adaptor
   
   
2. Plugged into new ESXi
   
   
3. Enabled SSH/ESXCLI
   
   
4. Used PuTTY to log into EXSi server
   
   
5. /etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop
   
   
6. Obtain the UUID of VMFS partition using
esxcli storage vmfs snapshot list


7. then mount it using
esxcli storage vmfs snapshot mount -u <UUID>


8. then log into ESXi GUI and copy files across
   

 

Thanks to:

• http://woshub.com/mount-usb-flash-drive-vmware-esxi/
  
  
• https://serverfault.com/questions/998817/mount-vmfs-partition-in-esxi

ESXi on NUC12 NUC12WSHi5

Happily had ESXi running on a NUC7 for approx 4 years.  The NUC7 recently expired so I thought it would be an easy exercise to replace with a NUC12 and new SSD.... many frustrating hours later...

1. Intel i5-1240P contains e-cores, ESXi doesn't support these, so when booting up ESXi you'll get the "purple screen of death" and warning about CPU mismatches.  Internet advice is to disable the e-cores in the BIOS however there is no option to do this in the NUC12WSHi5 BIOS.  Instead press SHIFT+O at the start of the ESXi startup sequence.  I then added the ESXi kernel option "cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE" to the end of the editable line (so I had "runweasel cdromBoot cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE") and pressed enter.  ESXi will now boot ok (with a flash of red text).  To be honest I'm pretty uncomfortable about ignoring warnings but it's just a test rig and my only other option is to buy another machine.

2. Assuming you're using ESXi 7 or lower the networking isn't going to work.  This is because the drivers for the newer networking chips aren't in ESX 7 base package.  You can either download/install the community drivers or use ESXi 8+ which includes the drivers.  I did the later for ease.  Good article here: https://williamlam.com/2022/09/esxi-on-intel-nuc-12-pro-wall-street-canyon.html

3. Next I find that the ESXi does not reboot, it complains "No bootable device detected".  Forum suggestions are this is a problem writing to the UEFI NVRAM.  Not my strong area but some suggestions to use (older) MBR rather than GPT.  So I reinstall, press SHIFT+O and this time add "formatwithmbr" (so I now have "runweasel cdromBoot cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE formatwithmbr").  It works, but I can't say I fully understand why and wouldn't dream of doing this on a production system.

We'll see how things go.  I'll report back any issues encountered below this line.

EDIT 1: so the NUC12WSHi5 has an internal fan.  It's quiet but not as quiet as my previous fanless NUC7 and that's an annoyance as I keep these machines in a bedroom cupboard.